Design Excellence Overview

The Design Excellence Program is the center for GSA's advocacy of quality in the federal built environment. It establishes nationwide policies and procedures for selecting the finest and most appropriate architects and integrated design teams for GSA commissions. The program also implements rigorous assessment processes to ensure enduring value in that work. Operating under the Design Excellence umbrella, the First Impressions, Interior Design, Lease Construction, Urban Development, and Sustainability initiatives review projects for superior performance in their respective disciplines. Equally notable, the Design Excellence Program manages national peers, distinguished private-sector design professionals appointed by the Commissioner of the Public Buildings Service to advise procurement and to critique concept designs under development. Exhibits and other events, publications, and videos underwritten by the program document the Design Excellence process as well as its most significant results: holistic environments that add contemporary form and meaning to America's rich legacy of public architecture.